LAWMAKERS MUST REVISE SERVICES TAX OR FIND ADEQUATE SOURCE TO REPLACE IT

Florida needs revenue if it is to educate its young people, build a decent transportation network, protect the environment and provide an adequate level of social services for its citizens.

The chief executive officer of Florida should be out front in demanding a state of excellence. Instead, Gov. Bob Martinez is promoting the repeal of the state's services tax without replacement.

The about-face by the governor, who initially supported the tax, could be devastating to the state.

He should be joining other state leaders in supporting revision of the tax. If that fails, he should throw his support behind repeal and replacement by a sixth cent on the sales tax.

Martinez should not be conveying to the people of Florida the badly mistaken idea that the state can function properly without the sizable extra revenues the services tax provides. Florida needs more money.

To deny that fact is to condemn the state to mediocrity.

Fortunately, during this week's special session, lawmakers did not buckle to Martinez' call for repeal. The Senate voted 26-14 Tuesday to repeal, but the issue is far from resolved. Without replacement revenue, the budget will be out of balance, which tosses the measure back to two committees for further deliberation.

Both Senate President John Vogt and House Speaker Jon Mills favor revision, and they managed to instill a semblance of stability in the deliberative process, realizing that two days is far too short a time to adequately deal with a measure as important to Florida's future as the services tax. The legislators will be back Monday to continue the special session, which Martinez has extended until Oct. 2.

In passing the services tax, the Legislature made some serious mistakes. Certain things were included that should have been left out and many of the deliberations, including the final and decisive ones, took place in secret.

Fixing the tax will require, among other things, the elimination of pyramiding, in which consumers end up paying taxes on taxes. The state should not be taxing services that are used in creating a final product or service. The construction industry is particularly hard hit by this.

The tax on advertising is another example of pyramiding. Also, advertising stimulates economic activity, and a tax on advertising is counterproductive. This newspaper receives considerable revenue from advertising, but the tax is harmful to the state and we do not apologize for our opposition.

If revision of the services tax proves politically impossible, then the Legislature should add the sixth cent.

The one thing the Legislature must not do is leave the state without the revenue it needs to grow and prosper. On this point, the Legislature must battle the governor to the end.